‘Missoni for Target’ line crashes site, sells out in stores

Apparently Target caused quite a few riots this week when they launched their collaboration with Italian designer Missoni. It’s not even Thanksgiving. Not bad for a struggling economy.

(CNN) — Talk about an overwhelming response.

The much-anticipated launch of a new collaborative line between Italian designer Missoni and Target caused the megaretailer’s website to crash several times Tuesday.

“Target.com is seeing greater item demand than we do on a typical Black Friday ,and the excitement for this limited-time designer collection is unprecedented,” the store said in a statement. “We are slowly bringing the site back online to ensure we can provide a positive shopping experience to our guests.”

Between 7:47 a.m. ET and 8 a.m., the Target.com homepage was completely down with a connection timeout error, according to AlertSite, a web performance monitoring business that has been watching the homepage every five minutes. Since 11:37 a.m., the homepage has been displaying a courtesy page of the Target dog letting visitors know the site was overloaded. At 7:35 p.m., the Target dog was issuing the same greeting.

“We are suddenly extremely popular,” the page says.

The fervor wasn’t only online. At stores nationwide, customers eager to grab up the colorful zigzag designs began lining up hours before opening. Stores reported selling out of stock within hours as shoppers grabbed up clothing and housewares at deeply discounted prices.

A full-priced knit scarf by the iconic Italian designer runs from $175 to $200 on department store websites. The Missoni for Target collection ranges from $2.99 to $599.99, with most items less than $40, according to the store.

The reaction comes amid considerable buzz leading up to the public debut of the collaboration. A private launch event on Wednesday at New York’s Time Square was reportedly described as a “madhouse,” with celebs such as Emma Roberts, Camilla Belle and Rachel Zoe in attendance.

Actress Jessica Alba tweeted that she “dreamt about the Missoni 4 Target bike last night” and that she hoped her husband was “going to get it 4 me?!?” Singer Jessica Simpson retweeted Alba, saying that she wanted the bike too: “So cute!”

Target has collaborated with other designers before, from Isaac Mizrahi to Jean Paul Gaultier, but none to this effect. The collection was scheduled to be available from September 13 through October 22 at Target stores and Target.com. It was unclear how Tuesday’s activity would affect future sales.